Thank you for the positive response to the start of this story. The chapters are generally longer, although this is another fairly short one.
Still trying to wrestle the second half of the story into submission! But the next few chapters will get published fairly quickly now I know how to get them up here!

Update - it's been pointed out the flashbacks might work better in italics, so apologies for re-trying like that (and I've just realised it would have been possible to update without deleting and re-posting...! sorry! I'm learning...!)

I'm never sure if large blocks of italics actually end up harder to read... but it might help the movement of the story to make more sense over this and coming chapters.

CHAPTER ONE

Sam stood anxiously over the high bed in the middle of the room. Nothing seemed to have changed, but he felt an increase in worry all the same. He intently scanned all the monitors and machines, scanned his partner, troubled brown eyes searching for the reason that had caused him to rise from the chair he had been sitting in for hours and cross to the bed. Dammit, he thought rhetorically, why wasn't it him lying there. Him, unable to breathe. Not Callen, not again. His own breath hitched just thinking about it, replaying the last scenes of his partner awake, still trying to make sense of what had happened, but he was dragged back to the grim present by a sudden increase in the speed of the beeping that spoke aloud every beat Callen's heart was artificially making.

Before Sam could react, the door to the room opened, and a nurse and a doctor rushed in.

"He's waking up!" the doctor said. "Agent Callen? Agent Callen, can you hear me?"

His words had no effect. Sam felt helpless as he watched his partner twitching, ever ready to fight, starting to gag on the ventilator that breathed for him.

"Talk to him!" the doctor urged, and turning quietly to the nurse asked her to prepare a sedative just in case. Callen was coming to several hours earlier than they had predicted.

Sam choked, but put his hand on Callen's forearm, and with a slight break in his voice said "G? It's Sam. Time to wake up now, buddy. Time to…." He broke off as Callen's eyes opened, bleary, unfocussed, but flared with panic all the same. "There you are. I'm here, G," Sam said, moving his hand on Callen's arm and leaning in slightly, smiling reassuringly. "I'm right here, you're fine." Something in Callen relaxed as he made eye contact with his partner, but it was short-lived when he tried to nod and swallow, and found he couldn't. Many would have missed it, but Sam was instantly aware of the slight increase in tension, the bunching of the muscles, the primal survival instincts in full swing. "G," he said again, his tone soothing and calm, which belied the tension he actually felt. "Don't fight it. Your lungs, that warehouse…. There was something in the crates that exploded. Do you remember..?" he drifted off.

It seemed like any ordinary case, any ordinary day. Callen sat lazily next to him as he drove, fairly leisurely, through the LA streets. Nell was still guiding them in, using Henderson's cell phone as a fix on his location. It looked like he was travelling on foot, on the outskirts of the city, towards the more industrial areas. No sign of trouble. Just a simple apprehension of a suspect for questioning. They'd done it a thousand times.

Getting nearer, it was clear they weren't going to be able to continue to follow closely in the car. Henderson was the other side of a tall mesh fence, within an industrial site, aggressive wire gates off the exit from the road securely padlocked. "How did he get in here," Sam muttered, not seeing any obvious point of entry.

"Split up?" Callen suggested. "He's not far ahead of us. Carry on round and cut him off."

Sam nodded, and lingered briefly watching while Callen got out of the car and made easy work of climbing over the metal fence in pursuit of their quarry. He put the car back into drive, and followed the perimeter fencing around, finding after a mile or so that the fencing opened up towards a more public area, which seemed to make a mockery of the earlier security. It was drifting towards lunchtime, and a few people were walking down the road, heading presumably towards the more built up area he could see not too far in the distance. A row of shops, food vendors, and beyond that the beginnings of suburbia, one of the rougher parts of the city. According to Nell in his ear, Henderson, and Callen getting ever closer behind him, were headed that way, at the moment still the other side of the fence that ran parallel between them, and out of sight behind various industrial buildings. Sam drove round to where the fence petered into nothing, getting out and coming to flank Henderson from the other side, trusting Nell to guide him as accurately as possible through the maze of buildings.

He saw Henderson first, running now. Callen's comm didn't seem to be working, he hadn't heard any noise from his partner to explain the change in pace. "Callen?" he shouted, with a little urgency, and then when there was no response, "Nell?"

"Callen is fifty yards behind the suspect," Nell said calmly in his ear. "Running. Eric's got him on CCTV, but I think his comm is down? We didn't see what caused Henderson to spook."

"I'll head him off," Sam said, starting to sprint towards their suspect. Henderson caught sight of him, and whirled towards the steady stream of pedestrians out on the road. Sam altered course, losing sight of Henderson between smaller buildings. "Nell?" he demanded into his comm. "Lost him!"

"There are no cameras where he is at the moment, but the movement of his cell shows he's travelling back towards Callen. He's moving pretty quick now Sam. Turn left after the next low building and he and Callen should both be in your line of sight."

Sam kept up his pace, closing the gap, with Henderson in between them both, closer to Callen than to him. Catching sight of Henderson first as he rounded the low building between them, Sam looked puzzled, then concerned, and increased his speed even more.

Callen relaxed as his partner spoke, and the doctor took the opportunity to communicate with his patient again.

"Agent Callen? I need to leave the vent for now…. Until I can run some tests to ensure your lungs are functioning properly. They were badly compromised by some toxic fumes…. Do you understand me? Blink once for yes, okay?"

Callen blinked once, though not before shooting a gaze to his partner, still stood with his hand on Callen's arm. Sam imperceptibly nodded, solid and reassuring as ever.

The doctor raised the head of Callen's bed, so that he was closer to sitting. Callen closed his eyes, and Sam could see that the movement hurt him. The doctor noticed too. "Are you in any pain, Agent Callen?" he asked gently. "Blink once for yes, twice for no."

Callen took a moment to register the question being aimed at him, a long moment which did nothing to ease Sam's anxiety, but eventually they were rewarded by two slow blinks. The doctor nodded, and placed the call button under Callen's fingertips.

"Press that if it changes, and we can give you something for the pain. In the meantime, rest, and I will run some tests to check your lung function and oxygen levels in a few hours." Callen blinked once, looking again for Sam, not, Sam thought, for verification this time, but to check that when the doctor and nurse left the room, Sam would stay. He needn't have worried. Sam hadn't left the room for almost two days, he wasn't going anywhere now.

"Rest," Sam said. "I'll be right here."